Follow-up w/ surgeon

Went back to see the surgeon today. He was not at all surprised by how long recovery has taken. Apparently, people w/ biliary dyskinesia (gall bladder disease w/o stones) take longer to recover. His hope is that every day I will feel a little better. I can say this is day #2 without any nausea (yea!). He also thinks that some of the bad pain last week may have been due to some bleeding into my abdomen (after all, he has me on aspirin and gave me 5000 IU of heparin the day of surgery). This possible bleeding was not at all an emergency or even a concern, but would account for the increase in pain last week.

He did say that how I feel in about 2-3 weeks once back on a normal diet is probably as good as it will get. Meaning, that if I still have some intermittent nausea or pain or some foods I don't tolerate, that it may never go away. He said that it may be that the gall bladder is only a piece of the problem (a BIG piece), but some people with biliary dyskinesia never get relieved of 100% of their pre-op symptoms.

I am clinging to the hope of a full recovery and a return to my normal diet---ALL of it. (I am not tolerating certain foods---chocolate being one of them). Yes, I know of a few friends that will be laughing about that! :) As for now, I'll slowly re-introduce foods and see what happens. I am excited that at least I'm feeling more like myself!!!

Thanks to all of my family & friends for the prayers and support through all of this!!

Yet another turkey...

Lance took Jordan hunting yesterday & today...yes...she gets up at 5am and goes w/ him! Today he got a turkey (see picture). This is the first time he has shot a turkey with her along. Is she excited! You'd think she was the one that got it!! My little tomboy came home dressed in camo, promptly changed into a skirt to go to the seminary w/ me. TOO FUNNY!! She goes from hunter, tomboy to all girl w/ a skirt.

Back to work

A good day to start back to work. I think it is going to be 80 degrees...I'm actually wearing short sleeves!! YEA! Maybe we'll spend some PT time outside today!!

I can't believe the difference a few days makes. Wednesday morning we weren't sure if I was going to work today, but a couple days later and here I go. Still having some surgical discomfort, but much better. Hopefully the little ones will be nice to me today!

I really miss my kidos!! Can't wait to see them!

Getting better...

I am finally feeling better...a week after surgery. This recovery has been harder than we expected. Especially when the surgeon says, "No restrictions". Ha Ha!! Each time I've talked to one of the nurses, they have given me restrictions.

SO...this morning the sun is shining, it's going to be 70 degrees today, I'm not hurting too bad (only Tylenol now for 2 days) and so far no nausea this morning. I may try to go back to work tomorrow. So...it's a good day!!

Plan for today: get outside in some fashion, even if it means working on grading home schooling on the porch!! :) I really want to weed my flower bed, but that may have to wait for another day. I'll just try to focus on the pretty Phlox we have sprouting up!!

Getting impatient

So...the weekend went rather well in terms of my recovery, but I feel as though I have digressed. Sunday night and yesterday brought more pain, nausea and the ever dreaded stomach ache. I didn't sleep much Sunday night and ended up back on the big pain med yesterday. I called the nurse at the surgeon's office. She said it is still early in my recovery. I need to continue to eat bland foods (which I was for the most part), and rest (which I was having trouble doing). I think I took the pain med away too quickly and expected to feel better too quickly. So...back to the big drug yesterday and I rested all afternoon and most of the evening. Gave in and took the pain med and phenyrgen at bedtime and slept through the night. WHEW!

Going to work tomorrow is questionable. If I have pain today like yesterday, there is no way I can go to work. I'm going to see how my day goes. I'm just really ready to feel better. This has been going on for a long time!!

The Mighty Hunters

Lance introduced Paulo to turkey hunting yesterday. He showed him how to sight an object in the gun while in our living room the night before. And yes---Paulo shot his first turkey yesterday morning! Unbelievable!!! They had fun! We (all of us except Juliana) enjoyed a very fresh turkey for lunch today. Lance did a super job of baking it!! Kudos to Paulo on this "rite of passage". :)

Well....

I ate 2 meals today without nausea or a stomach ache. Just ate supper and so far, it's good!! I have surgical pain, but not all of the horrible symptoms I had before surgery!! The only other "complaint" I have is difficulty swallowing. Once something gets midway down, it hurts. Like swallowing a vitamin wrong--feels like it is getting stuck for a second or two. A nurse from the surgery center said it is most likely inflammation from being intubated and if not better by Mon. call the doctor. She suggested eating cold things to decrease the inflammation. Mmmm...I think I should have some ice cream!! :)

So...other than surgical pain and a swollen esphagus, things are going well!!!